Defending His Heart
by fairiegirl2992
Summary: *WARNING! SPOILERS CONCERNING BIRTH BY SLEEP. IF YOU DO NOT WANT SPOILERS DO NOT READ!* I got thinking about what would happen to Ven while he was in Sora's heart, and if he had met/talked with Kairi at all during Sora's first adventure. This lovely little story followed. One-Shot.


**Defending His Heart**

Ven awoke with a start. He had been sleeping inside the boy's heart for so long now that he had forgotten what is was like to being awake. The light in the boy's heart still burned bright. The same heart that had saved him years ago from being nothing more than a broken shell. But he had been broken…

"Where am I?"

It was a girl's voice. With a sudden jolt, Ven was strongly reminded of Aqua…where was she? They both had that same tone of kindness. But there was a very strong light coming from the new girl.

"Who are you?"

It took Ven a moment to speak. He had not spoken to anyone for a long time. "I'm Ventus. Call me Ven."

"Ven…I'm Kairi."

"Kairi."

"Ven, do you know where Sora is?"

The name was not familiar, but the feeling of joy and laughter that washed over Ven was unmistakable. It was the same feeling he had when he had joined with the boy's heart all those years ago. So the boy was Sora. But how would he explain this to Kairi?

"Kairi, do you know where you are?"

"No. But it feels…familiar, like I've been here before. This is how it feels when…"

"When what?"

"When I'm with Sora." Kairi suddenly gasped. "Oh no! Sora!"

"What's wrong?"

"Sora! He's in trouble! The darkness was coming out of the door-"

Ven paused. What door? And darkness? He suddenly thought of Terra. Had Terra won that battle?

"-and I tried to tell him I was scared but then…"

"What?"

"…I'm inside Sora, aren't I?"

The defeated way in which she spoke did not sit well with Ven. "Yes, you are inside him, inside his heart. But why are you here?" This part was more to himself than Kairi.

"I think all the darkness scared me. And Sora was like this brilliant light then. I guess…my heart must have jumped out of me and into Sora."

Confused, Ven remained silent. There was nothing to show Kairi; this was Sora's heart, it wasn't like there were vast cities to show her while she was here. Not to mention the fact neither of them had bodies to do anything with.

"How did you get here, Ven?" Kairi asked after a while.

"Uh," he hesitated. Should he tell her? Master Eraqus had warned him long ago to not reveal where he came from in order to maintain the balance of the worlds. But if darkness was entering the worlds…"Kairi…I don't really know how to explain it."

"Just tell me, Ven. I love stories. And besides, it'll give us something to do."

Why did she keep reminding him of Aqua? He suddenly felt homesick. He knew he wasn't in his body so he couldn't clutch the Wayfinder to remind him that Terra and Aqua would find him, no matter what. He was nothing more than a spark of light, encompassed safely in Sora's heart. He couldn't cry, but he wanted to.

Kairi's light came towards him, wrapping him in warmth. There was no darkness in her heart. His homesickness and feelings of guilt—guilt that it was his fault that he had destroyed both Terra and Aqua, guilt that he had burdened Sora with an impossible task-slowly melted away. "Talk to me, Ven. It'll be okay."

It was the first time in a long time that he felt like he had a friend. "Okay.

"I'm not sure how much time has passed, but not long ago, my friends and I…well, my one friend left home, and I went after him. He's like a big brother to me. I don't know who my real family is. Or I don't remember them…"

"I know how you feel. I don't remember my parents, either. Just my grandma."

"Well, anyways, it turns out there was this other guy, Master Xehanort-"

"What's he a master of?"

"He's a Keyblade Master."

"What's a Keyblade?"

Ven was not anticipating this. He wanted to kick himself for not realizing Kairi had no idea about the worlds beyond her own, and that included Keyblades. He explained to her how that Keyblade warriors were chosen to defend the balance of the worlds, and that their Keyblades were designed to keep things safe.

Kairi brightened, hearing about other worlds, and told Ven about her favorite story that her grandmother used to tell her of how there used to be one world, but people began to be greedy for the light, and darkness swallowed the light. Ven was entranced as Kairi talked about how the light remained in the heart of children, and they rebuilt the worlds. One day, the door would open, and the true light would return.

"And even in the deepest darkness, there will always be a light," Kairi finished.

"Wow," Ven said. "That's a lot better than my story!"

Kairi laughed. "What are you talking about, Ven? You never even finished it!"

Ven began to laugh along with Kairi. But inwardly, he couldn't tell her. He didn't want to ruin her story of hope with his tale of how he had sacrificed himself.

"Ven?" Again, Kairi's light came to him, seemingly stronger than the first. She wanted to help him, that much he was certain of.

He sighed. "Sorry, Kairi. It's…difficult for me to talk about it."

"Well, if you tell me," she said, with a tone that sounded like she was smiling, "it won't be as hard."

Ven began talking about Terra and the darkness, and how there was a boy in the mask who had threatened him, Aqua and Terra. He told Kairi of how he was part of the Χ-blade, how it was _the_ Keyblade, the one that would open to Kingdom Hearts, where the light rested. He explained how he fought Vanitas, the dark part of his own heart, and by defeating him, destroyed the Χ-blade.

"But, by destroying the Χ-blade, I ended up destroying my own heart," Ven continued as Kairi gasped. "At least, that's what I thought."

He suddenly sensed that Kairi wasn't gasping at his story. "Kairi, what is it?"

"I…I don't know how to explain it, Ven. It was like…I felt myself."

"Huh?"

"Like…I felt a part of me…I felt…whole. Complete."

"Oh." Ven sighed. "I guess that means my story's done."

She gave another gasp, but this time it was in response to him. "No, no! I was listening, Ven, I promise! I just…I don't know. Please, finish it."

"Well, I guess I thought I was going to fade into nothingness because if I stayed, that meant Vanitas would stay too, and that means that the Χ-blade can come back. But then…I felt a light. And, I didn't realize it until later, but it was the same heart that saved me when I was eleven."

"Sora saved you? How? Sora's only fourteen! He's never done anything like that before."

"Well, you see Kairi, in order to make Vanitas, Master Xehanort had to break my heart. Separate the light from the dark. But he didn't realize that it would break _me_. So…while I was sleeping, I heard a voice…it was a new heart, and he offered to fix what had been broken, and keep the rest of my heart from slipping away. I didn't realize that I would return there after I sacrificed myself so Terra and Aqua would be safe.

"Sora saved me then…and he saved me four years later when…well, I wouldn't say die."

He didn't know why that sounded funny, and he was almost afraid to laugh, but Kairi suddenly burst into a fit of giggles.

"It's not that funny…"

"It's just the way you said it!" Kairi laughed louder.

Ven allowed himself a chuckle. It felt like when he was with Terra and Aqua.

_You are such a girl, sometimes._

_ Hey, what do you mean, sometimes?_

A sudden flash of light changed everything. Ven felt himself falling, and he suddenly realized he had a body again, or at least, what looked like a body. Perhaps, it was a memory of his body, he wasn't sure. But he was falling towards an Awakening Station, a stained glassed picture of a sleeping boy with brown spikey hair. Ven had to question his choice of giant, oversized, yellow shoes. And there, standing on the platform as he landed, was a girl with short red hair. She was wearing a tank top and a miniskirt. She looked like she had a lot of spunk, and Ven instantly liked that about her. But why all of a sudden did they have bodies? And why were they here?

Kairi stood, gazing up into the distance. Ven came up behind her, and, flexing his hand to make sure it was really his, put his hand on her shoulder. "Everything okay?"

"No." Kairi turned to face him. She had the same blue eyes as Aqua. That did not help with Ven's homesickness that he had been suppressing. "Sora's in trouble, I just know it!"

"Kairi, don't worry about Sora. Even though I've never met him, I can tell you care about him. And he sounds like a nice guy. I'm sure, no matter what, he'll keep you safe."

"He's the best. Him and Riku…"

"Riku?" This was an unfamiliar name.

"He's my other best friend. But, before we tried to leave home, he got…kinda scary."

Terra had become scary, too. Why were there so many parallels between him and Sora?

Kairi suddenly gasped and fell to her knees, clutching where her heart was. Ven knew that feeling all too well, and he rushed to help her.

"Kairi! What's wrong?"

"Ven," she panted, "someone wants my heart."

A young voice suddenly echoed around them both. "Forget it. There's no way you're taking Kairi's heart!"

Face lighting up with joy, Kairi shouted, "That's Sora!"

Ven knew what this meant. Just like him, someone wanted Kairi's light. Someone wanted to use that light to destroy the worlds. And like him, Sora was fighting to keep the light safe. He turned to Kairi, who was crying with joy that she was being protected. The look on her face, one of pure joy, sparked something inside Ven. He would protect her too.

Maybe it was this train of thought that allowed him to go deeper into Sora's heart, for he heard, very distinctly in his own head, "A Keyblade that unlocks people's hearts. I wonder…" He suddenly knew what was going to happen, what Sora was planning. Ven found the will to fly up into the space above the Awakening Station.

"I won't let you do it!" he shouted into the blackness, spreading his arms apart. "You won't take his heart! Or hers!"

But he was no match for a giant Keyblade that shattered the Awakening Station into pieces. He felt Kairi's light pass him, but he and Sora started falling into darkness. He felt like he was coming apart again. "Sora," he called, his voice almost a whisper, "save me again. I'm not strong enough on my own."

He did not know how long he was falling into the darkness, but there was a sudden, brilliant beam of light that stretched deep into the darkness. He knew who and what it was. It was Kairi, calling to Sora, calling him back from the darkness. Ven felt pulled upward back into the light and warmth that he knew so well. He became a spark of light again, and he didn't mind.

Everything wasn't the same though. There was a part of him, a small part, missing. He was not aware that he had lost anything when he had rushed to the front of Sora's heart to defend it from the Keyblade. But then again, it was a Keyblade to unlock people's hearts. Maybe, when it hit Sora's heart, it had separated the two into their own distinct hearts. But when Kairi called to Sora, maybe he remembered that he had promised Ven that he would keep him safe. But it didn't matter. The part that was lost was miniscule.

Ven nestled back in the place in Sora's heart that had been his for so long. This, felt right. It was the last thing Ven remembered thinking before he fell asleep again.


End file.
